Description
In this exercise you will learn how to construct and manipulate linked lists. As a side benefit, you
will also learn how operating systems manage the computer’s memory (RAM) resources.
Goals
• Work with linked lists
• Understand and implement a memory management system
• Work with exceptions.
Background: Memory Management
A typical computer (like your PC) is equipped with a physical memory unit (RAM). Let us
assume that the memory is a sequence of 32-bit values, each having an address (index) starting at
0. Following convention, we call these 32-bit values “words”, and the number of words in the
memory “size”. Thus the address of the first memory word is 0 and the address of the last
memory word is size-1.
When programs run on the computer, they create new arrays and objects which must be allocated
memory space. When these objects and arrays are no longer needed, the memory space that they
occupy must be recycled. The agent that performs these tasks is a Memory Management System,
or MMS for short, which is part of the host operating system. For example, let us illustrate how
the MMS comes to play in the context of the following code segment:
Let us track what happens behind the scene when the object-construction statement new is
executed. This statement invokes the Point(int,int) class constructor, which starts running.
More accurately, the low-level code generated by the compiler starts running. Among other
things this low-level code tells the MMS: “I need a memory space of 2 words for this new object
that I am asked to construct”.
How does the compiler know how much memory space is needed? This can be readily calculated
from the number and size of the fields of the class in question. For example, since a Point object
is represented by two int values, the compiler asserts that each Point object needs to occupy two
words in the computer’s memory. With that in mind, the code generated by the compiler turns to
the MMS and says “I need a memory block of length 2”. The MMS does some magic, and tells
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the calling code: “here is an available 2-word memory block; its base address is 5066252” (or
some other number between 0 and the memory size -1).
This number is precisely the value that the constructor returns to the caller. Thus, when all the
dust clears, the p variable of the calling code is set to 5066252, which is the base address of the
newly constructed Point object.
How does the MMS perform the memory allocation magic? That’s what this project is all about.
The Memory Management System
At any given point of time, the MMS maintains two lists. The first list, called freeList, keeps
track of all the memory blocks which are available for allocation. The second list, called
allocatedList, keeps track of all the memory blocks that have been allocated so far. Here is an
example of the two lists, at some arbitrary point of time:
Each memory block is represented by two fields: the base address of the block (a memory
address), and its length, in words. For example, the first block in the allocatedList shown
above starts at address 50, and is 3 words long.
The MMS supports two key operations:
Memory allocation is carried out by the int malloc(int length) method. This method, whose
name derives from “memory allocation”, searches the freeList for a block which is at least
length words long. If such a block is found, a block of length words is carved from it, and
handed to the caller. In practice, the method also performs some additional housekeeping
tasks, to be discussed later.
Memory recycling is carried out by the void free(int baseAddress) method. This method
searches the allocatedList for a block whose base address equals baseAddress. If such a
block is found, the block is removed from the allocatedList, and added to the end of the
freeList.
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A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is one:
We see that malloc() allocates memory blocks, while free() recycles memory blocks. The
former method is called by class constructors of running programs, and the latter method is called
by the garbage collector. These calls occur behind the scene, so application developers don’t have
to worry about them. The people who should worry about memory allocation algorithms and
implementations are the developers who write operating systems and infrastructure software.
These developers make a nice living, so read on.
Initialization: When you boot up your computer, the OS carries out all sort of initialization
routines. Among other things, the MMS initializes the two lists, as follows:
In other words, before programs start running and using memory resources, the freeList
contains a single block which represents the entire memory space, and the allocatedList
contains no blocks.
Note that so long as free() has not been called, freeList will consist of one block only, and
new blocks will be carved away and allocated from this single block. As a result, the block will
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become shorter and shorter. At some point, though, the garbage collector will kick into action,
and start calling free(). Each such call will cause the freeList to grow by one recycled block.
Implementation
The MMS (Memory Management System) can be implemented in several different ways. We
present an object-oriented Java implementation, consisting of five classes. The following image
shows how four of these classes work together to represent the system’s building blocks. The fifth
class is a list iterator, to be discussed later.
There are essentially two ways for implementing such a system. One is to create a generic
LinkedList class implementation, designed to represent Node objects of any possible type.
Another is to implement a customized LinkedList class, designed specifically for the MMS
needs. We have chosen the first approach. We now turn to describe the MMS classes, in the order
in which we recommend to implement and test them.
MemoryBlock
This very simple class represents a memory block. See the class API for details.
Node
This generic class represents a node in a linked list. Each Node object points to an object of type
T, and to the next node in the list. See the class API for details.
Implementation: a Node object consists of two pointer fields. One field points to the data, and
the other field points to Node object. (In the MMS, the data is a MemoryBlock).
LinkedList
This class is similar to the LinkedList class discussed in lecture 9-2, but there are many small
differences.
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The LinkedList class represents a list of generic Node objects. Therefore, LinkedList is also a
generic class. With that in mind, when we say “add a given memory block to the list” or “remove
a given memory block from the list”, we actually mean “add to the list a generic node in which T
represents the given MemoryBlock object ” or “remove from the list the generic node that points to
the given memory block”. See the class API for details.
Why do we need all this “T” trouble? Because once we’ll be done implementing the generic
LinkedList class, we’ll be able to use it for any system that requires linked lists of any type, not
only for the MMS.
You will note that the LinkedList API includes some methods that are not needed for the MMS
implementation. We ask you to implement these methods also, in order to practice your list
management skills.
Implementation
A LinkedList object consists of three fields: a first pointer, which points to the first element in
the list, a last pointer, which points to the last element in the list, and size, the number of
elements in the list. The LinkedList constructor constructs a new list and sets its size to 0. The
add(int,T) method creates a Node object that points to the given memory block, and inserts this
node just before the given location in the list. Once you’ve developed this method, developing the
addFirst() and addLast() methods should be easy. The former inserts a given object at the list’s
beginning, and the latter inserts a given object at the list’s end. The get(), and indexOf()
methods are self-explanatory, as is the remove method. See the API.
The iterator() method implementation is as follows:
/** Returns an iterator over the elements in this list.
* The iterator starts at the first element in this list. */
public LinkedListIterator
return new LinkedListIterator
}
This code creates a new LinkedListIterator object and initializes it to iterate over this list.
LinkedListIterator
This class represents an iterator over a linked list. See the class API for details.
The complete source code of this class is given. You have to explore the code and make sure that
you understand it.
MemorySpace
This class represents a managed memory space. Given the size (in words) of the memory segment
that we wish to manage, the class constructor creates a new managed memory space. When
clients need a memory block of some length, they call the malloc(length) method. The method
returns the base address of a memory block of size length. When clients wish to recycle a given
object, say obj, they call the free(obj) method. This method finds the allocated memory block
whose base address is the same as that of obj and recycles the block.
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Implementation: The managed memory space is characterized by two lists: freeList represents
all the memory blocks that are available for allocation, and allocatedList represents all the
memory blocks that have been allocated so far. The class constructor creates these two lists of
MemoryBlocks, using the initialization logic described in page 3.
The logic of the malloc() and the free() methods, which are the bread and butter of the MMS,
is described in detail in the above pages of this document, and in the MemorySpace API. Both
methods make use of ListIterator objects to scan the free list and the allocated list for objects
of interest.
Defragmentation: Suppose you want to allocate a block of size 10, and all the blocks in the
freeList have sizes that are less than 10. For example:
Note however that the second and fourth blocks can be joined, yielding the following freeList:
Once we make this change, we’ll be able to allocate a block of size 10 from the second block in
the freeList.
The deFrag method in the MemorySpace class is designed to carry out such operations, in a
general way. The method scans the entire freeList and tries to join all the blocks that create
continuous and larger blocks in memory. The result is a freeList that has fewer and larger
blocks.
Defragmentation is an important part of any MMS. For the purposes of the assignment, though,
you are not asked to implement or use this method.
Packages
It is important to note that the project is composed of two packages. The first is the linkedlist
package, which holds the 3 classes needed for managing general-purpose linked lists, of any type.
The second package, named mms, contains the specific MemorySpace and MemoryBlock classes.
Before implementing each class, make sure you understand the visibility of the fields, and how it
might affect your code.
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Do not change any package declaration or function signature. Also, do not change the visibility
of any field.
Testing
Stage 1: Develop and test the classes MemoryBlock, Node, LinkedList, and MemorySpace, in this
order. For each method, or set or related methods, write a separate tester, and use it for checking
your work.
Stage 2: We provide some stress testing in a class named Test. Use it only when you are done
with the stage 1 testing. The supplied tests are not comprehensive by any means and you should
add tests of your own.
Submission
Submit your solution no later than February 2nd.
Submit the following classes only:
Node.java
LinkedList.java
MemoryBlock.java
MemorySpace.java
